Peace and quiet

One of the advantages of Scotland is its remoteness. This is a double edged sword. It's great when you want peace and quiet, but not so good when you want to let your family and friends know your safe.



Take this afternoon, we had a relaxing sail from the pretty Ardfern Marina (which is a wonderful place to have engine trouble, as the staff at the Ardfern Yacht Centre are great) past the notorious Corryvreckan and up the Sound of Luing to the anchorage we're in tonight, Puilladobhrain. Don't try to say it, I tried, but it didn't work. As quiet an anchorage you could wish for, but could I text? Could I ever! As Pixie gentle swung on her anchor she would swing though an area where I could get signal. Unfortunately that area was about 1 metre wide, and Pixie would swing though that metre quicker than I could unlock my phone and send a text to Twitter. I could get signal, unlock my phone, then nothing. I could start sending a text, only for the signal to drop out half way through. Standing in the cockpit didn't work, neither did standing on the coachroof, on tiptoes, with my arm in the air. I contemplated hoisting my phone to the top of the mast, until I realised I would have to go with it to press the buttons, and Kirsty was reading and relaxing at the time. A couple of hours after we arrived I was able to send a text.

The sail round was great, coming out of the Sound of Luing and seeing the height of Mull across the Firth of Lorn was incredible, nothing prepared me for the height and topography of the landscape ahead. I wanted to tell the world, well you, how great it was. The only person I could tell was Kirsty and she was sitting smiling beside me, seeing it for herself. I want to share this anchorage, but you'll have to wait because I can't send this blog.

This anchorage is only a few miles from Oban, but we might as well be on the moon with the amount of telephone reception we both have on two different networks. The anchorage is quiet noise wise, with the exception of some excitable Oyster Catchers, and an RAF Tornado which was flying so low I could see the pilot who looked close enough to remove the masthead gear of one of the larger boats in the here. But by Scottish standards with 12 yachts here it's one of the busiest anchorages on the west coast, but it's calm and beautiful, which is why it's so "popular".